Danger Zone
by SavSilvy
Summary: Rangers are human. Humans make mistakes. The difference though between an ordinary human and a ranger is the consequences they'll eventually face for past mistakes. Will should have known that for rangers, this included being on the run from an angry group of pirates with his silver oakleaf on the line.
1. Prologue

**Some people might remember this story I wrote a long time ago for this fandom, I took it down because I didn't think I'd ever continue it. I'll be putting up the chapters one by one since there is a possibility that I might continue it since I hate leaving fics unfinished. **

Will was dead. Or he knew he would be if he didn't do anything productive in the next few minutes. He looked up at the giant man that could only compare to Trobar in size. He had that gentle giant's size and muscles but with 10 times the skill of a Skandian on raid. He knew how to hold that giant hammer of his against anyone, even a ranger. It was no wonder the group of thieves recruited such a bumbling looking man as a body guard.

The young ranger knew he could not do anything anymore. All he could do was pray that Halt would come and save him at the last minute like how he usually did it. That was a best case scenario

If worse comes to worst though, he knew he had to weigh his options. He was forced to run around the hill for the past 30 minutes and dodge the blows of the bumbling man. He was exhausted and for some reason the man wasn't. He had endurance and along with that he had speed. Because of that, Will had to make a lot more of an effort than usual to dodge the blows and try to hide. He trusted that his cloak would conceal him but for some reason the man was able see through it and before Will knew it, his cloak was torn to shreds and was thrown over the cliff. His bow was another option until the man grabbed it and snapped it in half in front of Will.

_Who is this man_?Will thought as he watched his broken bow skitter to a stop right beside the cliff. He realized he should stop contemplating on the man's identity and more on how to get out of this situation. He'd have lots more time to do that later.

His throwing knife was his last resort. He knew that the saxe knife would be useless against the man at that moment and so he kept it in his belt in case it would be of any better use. His throwing knife though could be of use. He swiftly threw it at the man and because of his massive size, was unable to fully dodge the rapid knife and it tore the flesh in his upper arm.

Will grimaced when he realized that it was only able to create a flesh wound in his arm and nothing too mortal and made a mental note to train a bit more on knife training when he gets back to his cabin in Seacliff.

Will's grimace turned into a look of terror when he realized the man looked much angrier and not incapacitated at all.

He had to weigh his options faster. He could escape but the only way down was a winding path that would lead them down to flat land. The flat land was where the camp of the Nemi pirates was. They would definitely be alerted on the arrival of the three rangers on a recon mission if he ever went down there now.

Right now, Halt and Gilan were listening in on their meeting. It was a mission ordered by the leaders to the ranger corps that would give Araluen a head start on the plans of the infamous pirates who have been causing a lot of chaos around Gallica, Hiberia and neighboring regions. It was a hundred times worse than the Skandian raids. They were burning crop fields, stealing sacks of grain from every house in a village. Those were the lucky villages. Others were burned down after being stolen from. Worse were the mass homicide cases from two small towns in Gallica leaving only a crying baby in one home? Fortunately Araluen wasn't yet a victim of their heinous crimes. To make sure that it does not happen, King Duncan ordered Halt and his two apprentices to track down the pirates. In less than a week, they were able to track down the base of the said pirates. It was Will who volunteered to lure their big guard to the woods and take him down as not to alert the men inside the biggest tent to the presence of spies. It was a simple game of cat and mouse that was able to lure the man up the him. Killing him, though, was another matter. Will had made the mistake of underestimating him. He should have known that the Nemi pirates would not have left one man to guard their base if he wasn't so skilled. He should have kept his guard up as he led the giant or it could have been Gilan who lured him out. A sword would have had a much better chance against a hammer than the only thing he had now- a saxe knife.

He ran around the place, dodging hammer blows here and there. While doing that, he weighed his only options now. Option 1 was he could escape back to the camp and ask for help from Gilan and Halt and at the same time alert the pirates of their presence. That would put his two comrades in danger and he knew that. The pirates were all skilled fighters due to their survival of the fittest and Spartan lifestyle so they would not be able to handle over 50 pirates with just two of them. The sound of a bumbling man chasing a ranger would have definitely alerted the pirates. He thought of his option 2. It was dangerous but he knew it was his only chance of not jeopardizing the mission now. Araluen and his loved ones' lives came first before his. He speeded up to the cliff ready to take the plunge to save his fellow rangers lives. He planned his landing as to not break too much, hopefully just one leg. With a cliff of that height, one fracture was lucky.

Once he falls, the big guard would go back to camp. His footsteps would give Halt and Gilan a head start on him and hopefully Halt would shoot an arrow through his heart before he could get any closer. That was the best-case scenario. Knowing them, that was also the most probable case. He was ready to jump off. A small part of him smiled at the irony of this. He followed Gilan's advice almost all the time. Who knew he was going to end up following THIS certain advice?

He took a last glimpse at his surroundings. Gilan's advice also played in his head as he took a look around. What he saw laid on the ground beside him was the key, along with Gilan's advice. He, then, also remembered the saxe knife in his belt.

_This may work. Will_ thought as he planned it in his head. It might be painful but it was better than jumping off the cliff.

In the end, Will did his third option.

**Feedback would be appreciated. :D**


	2. Suspicions

**Here's the next chapter :D. Actually most of the chapters are done. I've just been doing minor edits. ANyways enjoy!**

"Something's wrong." Halt pulled back the cowl of his cloak and looked at his former apprentice, Gilan as soon as they got out of hearing range. They have been leaning on the side of the tent, listening in on the conversations of the Nemi pirates for the past 30 minutes. To the younger ranger's relief, they still planned on recuperating from a last encounter that caused a lot of casualties. According to Halt's calculations, that was almost always correct, that would take about three months then another five since they were planning on causing havoc in some areas of Tuscan first. Araluen was safe for about one more year.

The relief was short-lived when the two rangers realized that much time has passed and Will still wasn't back.

Gilan nodded his head in agreement at his mentor and looked around him hoping he could find any movement among the woods—any sign of a person hiding behind a mottled cloak. As far as the ranger could tell there wasn't any. He looked at Halt, hoping at least he was able to spot their comrade among the trees. To Gilan's disappointment, Halt shook his head.

"It's been over 30 minutes, Will should have killed him by now. " Halt said

" You think I should have taken the job? A sword would have been a much better match against a hammer." Gilan wrinkled his forehead as he thought of the possible reasons why his fellow ranger hasn't returned. He turned again to his master. He needed just a bit of assurance that what he was thinking wasn't plausible. " What if…" He started

"I trust Will enough not to have made a careless mistake as to underestimate his opponent. Besides, the guard would have at least returned if, you know he, …"

Halt wasn't one to be superstitious but he decided not to say the word just to be safe and as to not jinx what may happen or may have already happened. It was supposed to be just another routine job for Will. He was supposed to lead the man up the hill and shoot him there, where no one would notice the dead body until, hopefully, a few days later when the rangers were all long gone. He could already tell just by how much time Will was taking, that that man was no ordinary giant.

" Should we go and help him? We already got our information" Gilan loosened his sword from the scabbard, ready to make his way up the hill.

Halt gestured to him to stay where he was. " Wait. Not yet. "

Gilan stared at Halt, confused. A part of him was thinking that Halt's age must have been already catching up with him. His former apprentice could be in the brink of the death at this exact moment and Halt was still willing to give an allowance of how long and in that span time, Will could already be taking in his final breath.

" Halt! What if Will 's dying at this very moment? We have to hurry. We've already wasted too much time." Gilan said almost desperately. That young ranger was almost like a brother to him and just imagining him dead was enough to leave a hollow feeling in his chest.

Halt sighed and looked at him. His reply came in a whisper.

"Gilan, if the safety of Araluen wasn't on the line, we would've already been on our merry way to help Will. Right now our duty comes first." Halt sighed once more. It was a painful choice but he knew he had to make it. He knew he could've sent Gilan to help Will out; it was a tiny feeling of guilt though that stopped him from letting his former apprentice leave. It was that memory of when he got himself exiled just to save an apprentice that made him rethink. He did not regret that decision but as a ranger he knew he couldn't put his personal needs over kingdom's needs too selfishly more than once. Also, this job he was about to do may require more than one person if ever they slip up and the whole band of pirates swarms them. Besides, this time, Will was a full-fledged ranger with about ten years worth of experience compared to the boy who was taken by the Skandians years ago.

_Come on Will… Hold on just a few more minutes._ He whispered almost as a prayer, hoping that that message would reach Will. That boy had the tenacity of a cockroach and he was praying that it would apply the most right now when he really needed it to stay alive.

Gilan looked at his mentor who looked like he was thinking much more deeply than usual. That's when he realized the reason of Halt's surprising choice of the mission at hand over Will's safety, which was rare. Halt wasn't satisfied with what they had uncovered from the meeting. Gilan knew the unsatisfaction that sometimes plagued Halt in recon missions were almost always correct.

"What's wrong?" Gilan started.

Halt looked back at his comrade and, as far as Gilan could tell, looked almost glad, to have his co-ranger, understand him so quickly.

"No one was interrupting the speaker as he spoke, there were no side comments, suggestions, all murmurs of agreement. That's pretty bizarre…" He answered as he put the cowl of his cloak over his head

" For a group of pirates…" The younger ranger scratched his chin as he started to get the drift of Halt's initial suspicion.

" Look back at their plans too." Halt added

" They planned on recuperating for about three months. Force on Toscano then Scotti then back to Gallica…" Gilan frowned as he realized the idiocy of their plan, even for a bunch of uneducated pirates.

Why would they plan to attack Toscano which is in the mainland, take a boat to Scotti and go to Gallica which is back in the mainland when it is much easier to charge to Araluen from Scotti? "

" It may be for recon… " Gilan suggested mostly as a weak effort to give an answer to all of their questions about the pirates so they can finally help Will out.

" They're pirates Gilan. At least one of them would have been impulsive and impatient enough to mention the inconvenience that a certain plan would cause and suggest a more convenient plan." Halt said again noting the out of character civility of the pirates

Gilan understood Halt's plan as soon as the grizzled ranger reacted to the sound of the leader dismissing his people through a bell .The former watched as people were already coming out of the tent, some in twos, some in fours and the occasional one.

Halt was waiting for the whole group to disband and the tent to be emptied. He was planning to search the tent and validate the information from the meeting or most probably, confirm his suspicions.

They only had to wait a few more minutes before the last few people left the tent. It was getting dark and that made it easier to sneak through, especially for expert unseen movers in mottled cloaks.

In no time, they were able to reach the tent without attracting any attention. Halt gestured to his former apprentice to stay outside and keep watch. They would be dead if someone found them. He started to search the shelves and the chests around the big tent. Within a few minutes, he had a breakthrough in the form of a leather bound stack of parchments that contained the raiding accounts of the pirates since their formation almost thirty years ago. He was able to scan the latest raidsthat until recently were only around the Skandian area, especially around the Eastern area that he recalled was called Lappland_. _There must have been some important reason why they decided to head so far South because Halt knew it wasn't like pirates to go to far from their area and home region which, he could tell from their accounts was most likely around the Eastern Area of Skandia. The last attack in that area was dated almost a year ago. He flipped to the next page and found a parchment wedged between. It looked a lot like the treaty made with the Skandians except in a completely different writing system, resembling a mixture of all the Skandian dialects. The only thing he was able to read was the name and the signature below. _Adriel Althing_. It would probably be useful for him to remember that name.

The ranger set the book back down and looked back at everything he remembered about the pirates. It started with their sudden appearance a year ago then the chaos created in all surrounding countries around Araluen but for some reason never within its walls. The meeting that was obviously staged, the lack of accounts of recent attacks, the paper that resembled a treaty, the body guard who seemed to be more than meets the eye.

He had a gut feeling these were all connected through this Althing figure who is the mastermind behind all this and if he doesn't stop him in time , not just Araluen but all the other countries would be victimized .

Halt's gut feelings where never wrong.

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Will backed up against the cliff and braced himself for his third option that he knew was gonna take a lot of willpower. The man 's hammer was already raised and up for the attack. The ranger clutched the longer half of the broken bow in his hands ready to use it as defense.

He tried to measure and time everything as perfectly as possible. The man's blow should be significantly weakened because of his injured arm and that should make his sacrifice a bit more tolerable.

The hammer will fall in…

Three… Two…

The broken bow and his fingers were what deflected , or more appropriately , delayed the path of the hammer. Will knew he had to use his fingers . If he held the bow on the side , it would have definitely broken from the impact of the hammer .He ended up using his fingers as support to keep the bow intact. The price… The pain was unbearable. The ranger almost bit his tongue when he stifled a sound that felt like it would come out as a sob and a scream at the same time.

The hammer was going to go down on him faster if he didn't add any extra support. He planned for that already though. The answer was in his belt. He just had to ignore the intense pain that was flashing through his fingers. He closed his eyes. He had to concentrate on getting the saxe knife from his belt and at the same time focus on not looking at his fingers which he guessed were most probably badly broken from the impact of the hammer and the fight the giant's weapon was putting against his.

After what felt like an hour, the saxe knife was loosened from the scabbard and he was able to add the extra support to his half bow . The result was a makeshift double-knife defense. The broken bow ending up the substitute for the throwing knife

As soon as the saxe knife started to push the hammer away, the pain in his right fingers started to die out.

At first , the ranger felt relief .He, then, realized that that didn't make any sense. The pain wasn't supposed to die. It was supposed to get worse. The giant was pushing down harder as soon as he felt the threat of the saxe knife. The ranger pushed his weapon up in return. In between the hammer and the saxe knife was the bow and Will's fingers.

That was supposed to be pain, multiplied .Why didn't he feel anything anymore? Will grew terrified. If he didn't end this soon , he may lose the use of his fingers.

With less than a minute left to save his fingers, that is if they were still alive, Will took another gamble. He quickly flashbacked to the lessons of Gilan about double knife defense.

_Gilan grabbed a handful of Horace's shirt and mimed an underhand cut … _Seriously? Could he still do that with broken fingers and with a man five times his size? _A quick thrust up under the jaw… _No. That would be too high…

The neck wasn't too high though. It was also a perfect target. One deep cut would be enough to incapacitate or hopefully kill the giant. That's also where all the major blood vessels. He cuts the right one then it's over. He rapidly scanned the neck of the man. He had only one chance to stab the giant and it had to be in the right area or he would end up falling to his death. He found one. He could see throb underneath the man's skin under the neck. It wasn't too subtle due to the thick muscle there but it was definitely there. The young ranger didn't have time to prepare. He pulled his left hand from its place under his marred right hand and quickly stabbed it into the man's neck.

It felt like almost a miracle. Less than thirty seconds ago, Will thought the man would walk away as he lay dying . Who would have known it'd be the other way around? The knife luckily hit a major blood vessel and the man attempted to scream but sounded as if he was choking.

Will ran away clutching his injured hand as soon as the man dropped the hammer. Immediately after he reached a safe distance , he assessed the damage.

_This is bad... _ The fingers were turning a sickly shade of purple especially the three middle ones. He touched his left fingers to his injured right and what he felt was something like pins and needles . He needed to bind it. He grabbed a twig and put it next to his , it was just the right size.

He had to find something to hold them together before Halt comes or before he can get any real help. He ended up having to rip his sleeve off to bind it. That was good enough for then.

He wrapped his sleeve around his hand and the twig a few times then tied the knot.

_Good enough. _ Will thought as he gauged the durability of his handiwork.

He stood up and was walking to leave when he saw his throwing knife on the ground. He contemplated whether to pull out the saxe knife from the neck of the big man who was most probably dead by then. It was a hard choice for Will. He felt almost horrified to pull out the weapon from a dead body but he knew he didn't want to ask for a replacement because of all the expenses it took to have another saxe knife made.

In the end, he decided to go back and get it. He was pretty sure Halt would be pretty angry if he requests for a new saxe knife because he was too scared to pull his old one from a dead body. His mentor wouldn't let him live it down if ever.

When he reached the body of the man, he loomed over it for a while. Its eyes were closed and it looked peaceful despite the gruesome death. It was almost easy for Will to imagine the body just asleep. The only thing stopping him though from imagining just that was the knife sticking out of its neck.

Will took a deep breath and placed his hands on the knife. He closed his eyes, ready to pull when…

"Help….Me…." It was hoarse and soft but it was still a voice.

The ranger opened his eyes again. The man didn't look asleep anymore. His eyes were trained at Will.

"You have to help me…Please… I don't wanna…" He croaked with a pleading voice. Will was almost tempted to call for help or find anyway to staunch the flow of blood from his other wounds.

The ranger's heart filled with remorse . It was when he looked at his already swelling fingers, did he lose at least some of it. There was still that human part of him that was pushing him to help the man. Will knew this man was powerful and for some reason he was aware of the rangers' abilities , he didn't want to take the chance of going against this man one more time.

It was a hard decision but after almost a minute of contemplating, Will chose to let the man die. He didn't want to endanger Halt or Gilan's life or in an extreme case, Araluen ,by letting him live . He pulled out the saxe knife to at least make it quicker. He turned away from the face of the man , which he could tell from his peripherals, changed from pleading to anger in a matter of seconds, and quickly ran out of the woods, both knives were back in the scabbard. He had to get back to Halt and Gilan. They must be looking for him.

The man stared up at the sky. He was definitely going to die and he could not accept it just yet.

He chanted soft witch like words, anger radiating from every syllable. With every word, his body got lighter and lighter. He wasn't in pain anymore. He made the chant harder and harder until he reached the limit of his already weak voice.

He gave one last cough and closed his eyes. In less than a minute, he was nothing but sand particles riding the northbound wind.

In the palace of one certain Northern Kingdom, a king was crying in his throne room. He had just received the message. His eldest son was dead and his killer was alive and free.

**Thank you so much for all the reviews! THough I may not reply to all, they are very much appreciated and keep me writing! Please leave a line or two in teh review box alone if you have time. It helps me improve and encourages me to post the next chapter, knowing people are actually reading this. Thank you again!**


	3. Worries

**Thank you for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

"You can heat the coffee _with your left hand." _

Will sighed as he went to get a pack of coffee from Abelard's saddle. It had been three days since they left the campsite of the pirates, a few more days, until they arrive at Redmont and the youngest ranger felt useless. Just a few seconds ago, he was blown off by Halt in his attempt to do something useful. He wanted to help unsaddle the horses, gather extra wood for the fire Gilan meticulously made, or do something else that had a bit more physical activity in it. All he got whenever he tried to at least restring the bow would be Halt, who looked very annoyed, or Gilan, with his can't-help-it smile, tell him not to move this or touch that, get him an easier job and emphasize "with your left hand."

The youngest ranger eventually gave up and ruefully complied when Halt told him to heat the coffee. He pulled out a small pot they brought around in long journeys and poured some of its contents into the pot. . He added some of the water Gilan collected and sat quietly as the water boiled along with the coffee beans.

It was when Gilan went up in front of him that the silence was broken. Halt had gone out to gather more firewood and it was just the two of them.

"How are you? And your fingers?" He asked. The worry was evident in Gilan's smile as lightly tapped the fingers of Will that were neatly bandaged by Halt who made sure to change it every night.

"I'm fine." Will replied.

Gilan raised his right eyebrow as he looked down at his fellow ranger. He did not look fine at all. His fingers were still a sickly shade of purple and anyone could have noticed that Will was much quieter than usual, especially on the way back from the campsite of the pirates. If he were his normal self, he would have already asked what the both of them found out about the camp and the youngest ranger would have told them his own experience fighting the giant.

All he told the two older rangers was that he had injured his fingers in the fight; the giant is dead and nothing else. Finger injuries were one of the hardest to gauge because of the small and at the same time intricate structure of the fingers thus even Halt wasn't able to make a sure diagnosis of what that injury really was. In the end, the grizzled ranger decided to keep Will away from any activity that required the use of two hands or can potentially move and as a result aggravate his fingers.

Gilan sat down beside his silent comrade. He understood Will's resentment at being treated as an invalid and at the same time he knew why Halt was being too careful almost to the point of obsessive compulsiveness. He looked back at a time when he was still an apprentice and had just sprained his finger, trying to open one of the traps they set together. Halt had told him to be careful as he splinted the finger.

_A ranger's fingers are his greatest weapons… Without them, you wouldn't be able to do a lot of the skills we've spent years working on. Take care of them._

He repeated those words to the ranger beside him. It was when Will looked up at him that he felt a glimmer of hope. He was finally taking down that boy's newly built walls. The hope turned into more than a glimmer when he finally spoke out of his own free will instead of from someone just asking a question.

"He's mad about the carelessness isn't he?" He examined his bandaged fingers and looked up at Gilan.

"You know Halt… He's mad about the carelessness and with that, he's hiding how worried he really is. None of us know how bad your injury is yet so…"

They both knew that the older ranger didn't have to continue. Will already get the message. He was starting to lose the frustrations over his uselessness as he analyzed the situation at this moment and Gilan's words.

_He's just trying to prevent my injuries from getting worse…_Will thought

" Well yeah. They _are _one of the most important parts of a ranger. I do remember at least two rangers who ended up prematurely retired just because of their fingers."

Will looked up surprised at Gilan's reply or that he actually replied. That's when he realized that he just said what he thought out loud.

"Gilan, you don't think it's that bad right?"

"It's up to the doctor in Redmont, not me but from what I can tell it's far from okay. It's been three days and for some reason, it's still looks a lot like an eggplant." Gilan smiled at his attempt at humor but that smile slowly turned into grimace when he realized that Will wasn't laughing, smiling or anything like that. He just frowned at him in return.

"That just makes me more worried…"

_Even a wry smile would have been fine…_Gilan thought, hoping he didn't accidentally mutter it. He decided to, at least, try to shift the topic, to something that could make his younger friend forget about his worries.

"Oh yeah, you don't know what we-or mostly Halt, were able to find in the recon mission yet " He mentally patted himself on the back for finding the perfect topic of conversation.

Will raised his eyebrows in reply. Secretly the ranger was wondering himself what they found out since he never had the chance (or courage) to ask Gilan nor Halt. From the deep thinking face that Halt had been wearing the past few days on the ride back, he knew it was something big.

In the end, Will didn't have to ask "what?" or show any of his curiosity through his words because Gilan had already started narrating the events of a few days ago.

"So Halt thinks that a man is paying the Nemi pirates to attack every country around the border of Araluen?" Will asked after Gilan finished enumerating the events that happened.

"I wasn't able to see the documents he was talking about but I don't think he just "thinks" it is so. He knows." Gilan smiled knowingly at Will who was now deep in thought from what he learned.

"The question now isn't a how… It's a why. Why aren't they attacking Araluen border? It's like they're baiting us… For what?" Will asked.

"Those are exactly Halt's questions right now…"Gilan sighed and glanced searchingly around the camp. He could tell the ranger beside him was still deep in thought but it was the face that had been common the past few days. The one filled with deep thought and worry.

_He's still thinking about it… _ His eyes fixed on Will's neatly wrapped fingers.

"You were thinking about how you broke your fingers again weren't you? You never really did tell us what happened…" The ranger's eyes once again grew serious. Knowing Will, he would have just brushed off the injury in at the most, a couple of days, but for some reason Will was still worried and deep in thought. _ Is it just the fingers he's worried about?_

"Why don't you at the least tell Gilan and me what happened through coffee?" The two rangers almost sat up startled when they heard the sudden voice that came from behind the trees. It was Halt who had just finished gathering firewood. He placed them neatly in a pile and sat beside his two former apprentices in front of the fire. His eyes, fixed on Will.

Will instinctively recoiled from the stare. Just by looking at it, he knew what that Halt was threatening him .He had to tell the full truth without a single lie. One intentionally hidden detail or one lie and his mentor would definitely make him regret it

He relayed, through sips of coffee, the events of the fight to the two rangers who were listening intently. Neither Halt nor Gilan made a face or showed any reaction until Will got to the part where his fingers took the blow of the hammer. Gilan made a face while Halt glanced at the bandaged hands of his apprentice, from what will could see, the worry was evident in his face.

"And you stabbed him after …" Gilan recalled what he thought Will. A part of him was proud of Will for remembering the lesson even until now to be able to stab the giant after such a painful variation of the double knife defense. Another part of him almost regretted teaching it to Will. It was like part of the blame for his broken fingers fell on him for teaching the defense to Will in the first place. He hastily brushed off all these feelings as he noticed Will's face grow darker. The younger ranger was definitely recalling something.

"What happened next?" It wasn't Gilan but Halt who pressed Will for more.

They were close to finding out a lot more. Will was cracking.

"I killed him…" Will started. "The weird part was the fact that he asked for my help when he was dying. I didn't help him and until now, I feel like it's haunting me. I felt something when he stared at me before I ran away…"

Halt gestured to him to stop. "Like a curse?"

"Halt! It feels real. I swear! It's like there's a sign and at the same time there's not. There are no nightmares or anything like that…I just feel it…"Will rested his face on his palms…"

Gilan looked at his fellow ranger. Will's problem sounded so unrealistic that he sounded almost crazy but for some reason, Gilan felt as if his friend was telling the truth. He turned to his mentor for advice and from what he could tell, Halt might be feeling the same way.

Halt stood up and took the emptied cups from Will and Gilan.

"It's been a long night both of you. We'll be off early tomorrow morning…Sleep, I'll take first watch." Halt grabbed his long bow and made his way to the back of the forest. That night, he was almost excited to do first watch. That gave him enough time to think. Especially about Will's supposed curse. It would sound very stupid to any stranger who did not know Will. It was as if he was the boy who cried wolf. Halt knew his former apprentice was one of the most truthful people out there and he would never do anything like that. He had to help him. That boy was almost like a son to him and he'd do anything to protect him.

They were all back in Redmont Fief. The rangers slowed their horses to a trot as they saw the familiar houses on their left and right.

It was when they reached Redmont Castle that Halt slowed Abelard to a stop. The two rangers eventually joined their mentor.

"We split up from here." Halt started then he turned to Gilan. " You report to Crowley about our findings. I'll bring Will to the infirmary."

Gilan turned to the sun that was already half way down. That meant that it would be three more hours until nightfall. He then remembered the banquet that would happen in a few hours.

Halt had gotten a carrier pigeon a few days ago from Baron Arald that announced a banquet with the king as soon they returned and he sent back a reply stating their approximate return. They arrived with just enough time for Will to have his fingers checked, Gilan to report and for all of them to get ready.

"So we'll meet in the banquet tonight?" Gilan turned his horse to the direction of the main offices.

Halt nodded his head in return "Most probably."

"This is the banquet of the king right?" Will asked

Halt shook his head and gave his former apprentice a look that obviously said: What do you think?

"A full fledged ranger that still asks questions…" Halt muttered then with a louder voice gestured at Will to follow him. "Let's go."

The infirmary was a crowded place that day thus Halt wasn't too surprised to see Malcolm helping out.

Halt walked up to the doctor who was bandaging the arm of a battle school apprentice. "You came at a good time Malcolm."

Malcolm looked up and raised his eyebrows at the grizzled ranger in front of him and to the younger one beside him, acknowledging their presence.

"Can you take a look at Will after you finish that?" Halt asked

"I think I owe it to Will for helping us out in Macindaw so I don't think it would be a problem." He finished off the bandage with a neat knot and gestured at Will to sit on the seat in front of him as soon as the apprentice said his thanks and left.

"Now, What seems to be the problem?" The small doctor examined the boy and his eyes eventually focused on the bandaged fingers of Will. The ranger winced as he unwrapped it to see the three bigger ones still swollen and purple.

The doctor bit back a gasp as he saw the mutilated fingers of the boy. The swelling hadn't subsided at all and the fingers were still a sickly shade of purple. "What happened?" He managed to ask

Will looked at his mentor who was then leaning passively on the wall. He nodded at his former apprentice to go ahead and tell the story.

He narrated the events starting with baiting the giant to the cliff side, leaving out the details about the giant's plea for help and the psychological distress afterwards.

"That sounds painful… It looks to me that your nerves and bones are severely weakened from the blows. It's a miracle they're not completely severed." He gently tapped at the fingers of Will "What do you feel?"

Will winced. "Pins and needles and pain at the same time…"

"We have to fully immobilize this for proper healing. The hand has been making unnecessary movements the past few days wasn't it?"

Will smiled wryly as he remembered his occasional and failed attempts at trying to hold things with his right hand for the sake of convenience.

Malcolm shook his head. "No wonder it's healing at such a slow rate…" He grabbed a roll of bandages from the desk beside him and tightly wrapped the ranger's fingers.

The bandages were so tight Will had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming.

"Keep this on until I tell you otherwise. And will, if you want it to heal properly, PLEASE, don't move it! Not even to hold a light things or it will never heal."

Will moved his hand experimentally. The bandages were pretty heavy. "So, no training for a while…" He looked at Halt

He walked up to Will and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I don't think you can when your fingers can't be moved at all. We can talk about it later .Go ahead to the cabin. And prepare for the banquet tonight. I need to have a word with Malcolm"

Halt had his usual grim face on but there was a glint of disappointment in it.

Will decided to just follow his mentor. He felt too much guilt already at the moment for abusing his fingers and ignoring Halt's advice about taking care of them to question him any more.

He got up and bid his thanks to the Malcolm and his mentor and made his way to Tug who was waiting outside.

The horse looked at his master to ask if he was ok.

"I'm fine Tug." He whispered to his horse. "I just have to rest a bit in the cabin."

He rode all the way back to the cabin. Tug kept the ride smooth as to not worsen the injuries of his master.

Will, on the other hand, was planning on how he could train while his right hand was immobilized. Another part of him was still worrying about the curse of the giant. Another was worrying about Halt. He shook off all the wild feelings in his head and tried his best to stick to the first one, leaving the other two thoughts to linger until someone else ends up bringing them up.

It was when he arrived in the clearing in the cabin that Tug's ears started to prick up.

"What is it?" Will reached down to whisper to his horse.

Tug did a soft whinny in reply then shook his body. The saddlebags in the side opened. His long bow fell out along with his knives. Ranger horses are trained to carry saddlebags carefully and keep things steady inside them. Usually when a ranger horse drops something off a saddlebag, it's deliberate. Tug was trying to say something.

_You have to fight Will! Take these weapons and fight!_

There were enemies! The ranger closed his eyes and listened. The footsteps were getting louder. There were 3 pairs. He could hear whispers. He looked to the side where he heard it all. It was all trees but will could make out the shadows of three men.

Slowly, the shadows materialized. As soon as he saw who they were he got off Tug and grabbed the Saxe knife with his left hand and held it in front of him.

"Why are you here?"

**Once again I'll remind you that I wrote these years ago so the quality can be cringe worthy at times If I made any mistakes, do point them out!**

**REVIEW ^^**


	4. Secrets

**Honestly, this chapter has been sitting in my computer for a while… I kinda forgot to post it I guess? Hehe.**

" Your former apprentice is a stubborn one isn't he?" Malcolm said as soon as he finished bandaging what he said to be the last patient that day.

Halt nodded in return. He had been patiently waiting and at the same time, commenting on his former apprentice's odd demeanor on the ride back and his claims while Malcolm was fixing up three more patients and that gave him only up to an hour and a half to talk to the doctor and after, get ready for the banquet.

As soon as the doctor finished the last knot in the bandage and gave a prescription to the patient, he sat in the chair in front of Halt. "You have my full attention. So you wanted my opinion on Will's behavior, the whole journey back?"

"I wanted to talk about the mission we just arrived from." Halt narrowed his eyes, thinking of the best way to start the conversation. "What we found out has been bothering me for the past few days along with Will's curse- or what he claims to be a curse…"

"Curse?" Malcolm wrinkled his brow "So you think it's about magic?"

"Well, if it involves curses then it obviously involves magic…" Halt paused for a while "Or do you think it might be psychological like post traumatic stress or something like that?"

Malcolm nodded "It can be but you shouldn't rule out the fact that it can be magic."

Halt smiled wryly at the doctor who was now scratching his chin and was obviously giving the issue at hand deep thought "Isn't it weird for a doctor to make a statement like that?"

"Halt, my medicine does not focus solely on science as you may have recalled from Will's stories, I am also the great sorcerer Malkallam. Of course I have some inkling that magic may exist."

Halt tried to read the doctor's humorous smile. It was obviously for the reference made to his old reputation back at Norgate Fief. It made Halt wonder for a while though, whether the statement made was a full joke or a partial joke. In the end, he decided to just ask for a clarification.

"So you think magic does exist…"

"It does! Where do you think I got my inspiration for the Night Warrior who lived in Grimsdell woods? Ideas don't come from thin air." He replied in a matter-of -fact way.

"Where _did _you get your ideas?" Halt asked, or more appropriately pressed. _They were finally getting somewhere_

"When I was driven out from the village, I didn't immediately run to Grimsdell woods. I had to let the gossip over my whereabouts and the death I was said to cause die before I could get anywhere near that fief again. I ran all the way to Picta. It was in a small village there that I was able to learn about this small country called Issland. The village is right beside the dock in the far North of Picta and they mainly provided passage to that country for foreigners as ordered by their King."

"Then the magic came from the kingdom?" Halt asked

Malcolm nodded "Specifically their Royal Family, the Althings. Magic only runs in their blood and not anyone else's."

Halt raised his eyebrows when he heard the name Althing. The last name of the man in the treaty he read. There was no doubt that that Adriel Althing was somehow related to the king because only one of royalty would be able to influence a bunch of uncivilized pirates to the point where they were almost less than chess pieces. He had to find out more about them, _and their magic_…

"What kind of magic do they do?"

"It isn't too powerful or inhumanely possible like controlling oceans or causing earthquakes. It's surprisingly very mild and less subtle than what you'd imagine. The most are usually what I call abilities beyond seeing that range from precognition tendencies to mind reading and telepathy. "

Halt rested his chin on his hands as he thought. "So, it may be a telepathic curse…"

The small doctor shook his head "They may have all those abilities but there is that one dark art that the Althings are famous for in their kingdom. The Night Warrior himself taught it to them. My best guess is they'd be using that means if they were to curse someone. It's a very deadly form of magic. For the user, and especially for the victim…" His eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a minute, Is Will with anyone right now in the cabin?"

Halt nodded. He felt his stomach drop when he saw Malcolm's face turn into one filled with worry.

"Halt, get back to Will as soon as you can! Go back now! If my theory's right…God forbid…Will won't be able fight at his state right now, let alone defend himself!"

Halt hesitated for a moment. He had to know more about the curse or he would never know how to protect Will.

"I'll be in the banquet tonight. We can talk about it then. For now, go and check on Will."

That seemed to be enough reassurance for the grim ranger because in less than a minute he was on Abelard galloping his fastest, hoping that Malcolm's theory whatever it is, is wrong.

Will was a full-fledged ranger who had the skill to shoot 10 bulls eyes in succession without a wink. He could fight close combats against majorities with only a saxe knife but at that time though, Will had only the use of his left hand and part of it was used to protect his right hand which was not to be moved.

Will was against three men who were almost twice his size and had the experience of battle school apprentices. That is, until they were expelled-partially because of him.

The ranger only realized his fault in all this when he was held tight by two of the men. Another one was in front of him, mocking him.

"Funny, I only came to my senses now. I never got to take revenge on you. That young brave ranger who killed that big boar…" He mimicked the last sentence "And in the end had us expelled from battle school!" He kicked the ranger in the stomach.

Will almost threw up. The three men haven't had the rough training in a while but from what he felt, he knew their power was still there. He cursed himself at his helplessness at that moment. If his fingers weren't injured and he didn't have to lay off from using them, he was pretty sure the three of them would be tied up already. Their timing for revenge was the worst; it was as if they _knew_ he was already injured. _How would they find out so fast?_

He then thought of the curse that was most probably placed on him by the giant before he died. _Is this part of the curse? _Will shook his head. It had to be all just a coincidence…

He knew though his suspicions were true when Byrn said, "Alda, you're right! The boy's fingers are broken! How did you know?"

Will felt someone pull roughly on his fingers then the unwrapping of the bandages, or more appropriately, the tearing. He stifled a scream as they pulled it harder. _What are they planning on doing?_

Alda shrugged and grinned smugly at his two cronies. "Guess I'm just psychic" He then turned back to the ranger "You see, We've been rotting away in the bar this past few years and it was only a couple of hours ago when I realized whose fault it really was. Then it just came to me, I had to take my revenge and what better time than now when you can't even defend yourself?"

That was Will noticed something about the man who was staring down at him. His eyes were glazed over _as if he were hypnotized_.

"Whoa! It's purple! What do you want us to do with it?" Jerome yanked Will's injured hand up for Alda to see. That was enough to bring Will back to the reality he was facing at that moment.

Their leader grinned wickedly at Will who was now finding it hard to keep an indignant look on face.

"Break it off."

There was a rush of adrenaline from Will. It was either from fear or anger but that was all that was needed to fight against them. Before he knew it. He had forcefully and painfully maneuvered his way out of the two boys' grasps and landed blows on their faces that eventually resulted to them lying on the ground and making sense of what just happened.

It was Alda's turn. His smug face was instantly replaced by one of pure fear. "Isn't your finger injured? How are you going to fight against me with just your left-"

He didn't have time to continue Will had socked him in the head so hard he was unconscious and before any of them could recover the ranger had already scrambled for his knife and was holding it defensively. Jerome and Byrn were the first ones to come back into their senses. That was when Will noticed that their eyes were completely normal and they weren't clamoring for a fight. They were assessing the situation with the ranger right now. As soon as they saw their leader Alda on the ground unconscious and the supposed perpetrator on their left, everything came back to them.

They had suddenly felt their hate for him intensify and for some reason that brought them to the clearing to attack him. If they were in their right mind, they would have known not to meddle with this man who was know a full fledged ranger while they were ex battle school apprentices whose everyday lives these days consist of rotting in a bar, sleeping, eating and moping. They stared at the ranger for a while expecting him to drive the knife he was holding into their throats but surprisingly, he looked just as confused as them. They had to get away before the ranger recovers. They ran to their unconscious comrade, placed his limp arms, one on each shoulder and quickly hurried their way into the secure camouflage of the woods.

Will just let them go. It was when he noticed the confused looks of the former bullies that he realized that it wasn't their intent to attack him and it was someone else's idea. So far, he didn't want to get anyone else involved with what was happening to him at that time. He also knew he didn't want kill anyone more people than necessary, especially after his last kill.

The ranger gathered the scattered weapons and placed them back in the saddle. After that, he continued the usual routine of unsaddling, putting Tug back in the stable with food and water and went inside the cabin to rest.

He felt so tired. The adrenaline from before was now gone and replaced with complete exhaustion. He sat on the chair, the table in front of him- table where he and Halt used to share so many stories through sips of coffee. Will rested his head on the table and closed his eyes.

His fingers felt weird. That's what snapped Will awake after a few minutes of dozing off. He pulled himself to sit up and took a look at his fingers that he knows saw started to swell again and this time they were bigger and a much sicklier shade. That fit the feeling Will was having then. His fingers felt like a thousand needles were poking them in succession._ Did the fight a while ago just make it worse?_

Will rushed to the cabinets where an emergency kit was hidden. He grabbed the sturdiest tape and wrapped his fingers from there, making sure that they were tight but at the same time moveable. He also made sure to make it as close as it could be to Malcolm's. _No one must now about what happened._

Will just wanted to forget it. _That was just a mistake... They won't come back…Don't bring anyone else into this._

A rumbling sound then echoed through the woods. It took Will a little longer to realize that it was the sound of galloping-Abelard's galloping. Halt was back and just in time.

He opened the cabin door to a see a worried Halt on the doorstep holding onto the reins of Abelard.

The worried look was short lived because it was replaced by his usual grim face as soon as Will saw it.

"Did anything happen while I was gone?" Halt asked. Will could hear something almost like relief in his voice.

"Not really." Will shook his head and kept a poker face. Through his years and experience as an apprentice and eventually, a ranger. He knew his ability to lie and hide his feelings was already of reliable skill.

His mentor nodded in return. " That's good. We'll have to get ready for the banquet. Wear the ranger's formal uniform." He gestured to the closet where Will placed his things before setting out to the recon mission two weeks ago.

Will nodded and retrieved it from the closet, wondering how to wear it without hurting his fingers any more.

Will managed to do it but it took him over an hour long thus the two weren't too early for the banquet. When they arrived, everyone was already there. Everyone was there to welcome him and his master and give a remark on their job well done. Jenny who took a break from the kitchens to welcome Will with a big hug. Cass and Horace put the merry conversation they were having on hold to greet the two rangers, inviting Will to join them. Gilan patted him on the back and invited him for a few drinks. Of course, Alyss also came and gave Will a peck on the cheek.

After all that and more greetings, Will took a cup from a servant and went to the balcony alone. He didn't feel like hanging out with anyone that night. He closed his eyes and took in the night air. That blast of cold fresh air was the closest thing he had to bliss at that moment. He had too much on his mind. He was almost a hundred percent sure that the curse was real. He held on to the smaller part of the hundred though, hoping it all wasn't true and everything was merely a coincidence. That was a farfetched idea. The two conscious bullies didn't look like they knew what they were doing when they came back to their senses.

Will shook his head. _ No… Don't believe it. Hold on to that chance that it's still all coincidence. Focus on what's truly reality right now._ Like his fingers.

He held his bandaged hand in front of him. The pins and needles had gotten stronger than it was before. He could feel it.

_Was it already healing? _The ranger excitedly thought

He placed the cup from his left hand to his right as a little experiment. There was a flash of almost unbearable pain and then nothing. Before he knew it, the cup was then a bunch of broken shards scattered all around the floor. _He couldn't feel his fingers. _

He tried to touch the balcony. He tried to wiggle his fingers. There was nothing. He carefully but quickly gathered the remaining shards and threw them over the balcony. _No one has to find out…_

"Will…What just happened?" Will looked back to see Alyss. Her eyes held surprise and _worry_.

He was a second too late. Alyss saw him.

**Leave a line or two? Or a question? I know a lot of you have been asking questions but I kinda skimmed through them hehe. Promise, I'll be replying more to reviews now!**


	5. Plans

_**Hey guys. I decided to post this lang for the people who have been clamoring for an update. This fanfic has been resting in my folder for so long and I have ten to twelve chapters fully written (too lazy to check). I'm still considering whether to continue this fanfic or not since my writing style has changed but if by popular demand, people do want me to continue, I could. But right after I finish QFO pls. One fanfic at a time. Anyway, do enjoy it first and tell me what you think.**_

_"Alyss, It's a party .You may go to Will if you wish to."_

The young courier's stomach dropped as soon she heard this. She knew what her mentor meant. It had been almost two months since she last saw the ranger and their lives and jobs had been very hectic after that. Or that's what she told herself. Ever since she realized her mistake, she knew she'd have to tell Will one day. She ended up delaying it though, passing up any opportunity to talk to him and to tell him what had been bothering the past few weeks. She was just scared and she knew it. She couldn't bother Will with anything like this when he was focusing on missions as big as catching a group of dangerous pirates.

Eventually, Lady Pauline was let in on her secret and advised her former apprentice to tell Will as soon as she could. When she heard about the banquet, she promised her mentor and herself that she would tell him then.

If they appear in the banquet, that means that the mission was a success and Will has another weight off his shoulder.

_Until I tell him this though…_Alyss thought to herself. He'd be relieved of one more burden yet, at the same time will have one more added to him because of her .They did appear and she knew she had to tell him then but she decided to stay at her mentor's side for a while, hoping that the latter will give more urgent reason to stay by her side. To her dismay though, she was let free.

"How long do I have with him?" She asked

"At the most one hour, remember we have to wake up early tomorrow for a messenger mission ."

She nodded at her mentor, affirming what she wanted her to do and started to search for the ranger.

_If I don't find him, I guess I can't tell him… _She shook her head _No! He's going to find out eventually! Don't make the unpleasant surprise too surprisingly unpleasant!_

After walking around the hall for a bit, she conceded to the fact that Will wasn't there and went out to check the balcony .One side was loud and full of people there was one side that looked empty. Or almost empty. She saw a young man in the official ranger's uniform and she knew that that was definitely Will.

She watched him stare into the sky, probably deep in thought. If he wasn't, he would have noticed her by then. She took a deep breath and mentally readied herself for what she was about to do. She was about to start walking to him when she saw him move. She couldn't see much from the back view but the crash of glass was enough to tell her what happened. He dropped the cup and then he was panicking and cleaning up the mess sweeping the broken glass off the balcony with his feet, hastily but carefully gathering bigger ones with one hand and threw it off the balcony.

"Will… What just happened?" She asked

She noticed the slight hesitation in Will's movements. She raised her eyebrow at him, knowing that was all she had to do to tell the ranger that she had seen enough to make an accurate conclusion.

"You saw that didn't you?" He said with a wry smile. "It was just an accident. I dropped the cup." He laughed. _He forced it. He definitely did._

"If it were just a normal accident, you could have asked the servant to clean it up. You're hiding something." Her eyes dropped to his hands. One was bandaged up and she could already tell even with all the layers there that it was swollen.

Will sighed and gestured for her to go beside him.

Alyss came closer and went beside him, leaning on his shoulder and she felt his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"You're back…" She whispered.

"I was only gone for a week. You were the one who was turning down all the plans these past few weeks." He chided

"I was busy… Now, though is a good time to catch up. First things first, what just happened?"

"It's a long story, Alyss."

"And I'm all ears."

Will sighed in defeat and smiled at the young woman he had grown to love. "Fine… But it'll be your turn later to tell me what _I _missed."

Alyss nodded. "Of course I will." She said, successfully hiding the grimace that was forcing itself out of her.

The ranger started with the fight with the giant, how he destroyed his fingers and a supposed curse that was on him, leaving out the encounter with the three bullies and loss of sensation in his hands.

"Do you think curses really do exist?" Will asked

"A bit… I read about a few in the Redmont libraries and one of them does sound a lot like yours."

"Intuitions that feel so true…Sounds like the signs of an Althing curse…" She started

Will's eyes widened at the said name. He heard that name from Halt and he put two and two together. _They were definitely related._

"That's right! I heard that name! Adriel Althing… Do you find out about what _does _happen to you when you're cursed?" He asked excitedly. _Finally._ He could finally find out what is happening to him.

Alyss lowered eyes, thinking. "I'll get back to you on that…" She paused and looked at the ranger in front of her whose face was now filled with poorly masked disappointment.

The courier smiled apologetically. "Sorry …All the curses I read about are a bit muddled up in my brain right now. But I promise I'll check it as soon as I can." She , then, made a mental note to go straight to the Redmont libraries tomorrow afternoon as soon as her mission is over.

Will forced a smile. "It's fine… I can wait."

"You still haven't told me exactly what happened here a while ago." Alyss said in a light tone, trying to get Will's attention off the curse that she could tell from his face is something that never fails to engross him.

" Oh yeah…" The ranger's mouth twisted into something like a crooked smirk. "Why don't you tell me first what happened in your life the past two months. I should get my share of stories too." Will suggested, mostly as a way to delay having to tell his girlfriend the much more pressing details of the story.

Alyss took a deep breath. That was the perfect time .There was no backing out . "Well… It _is_ about time I told you…" She started "Listen Will… I… I…"

Will was taken aback by the sudden nervousness of the courier. That was the first time he ever saw her stammer like that. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… I'm just searching for the best way to tell you." She replied. Will noticed she was gripping the railing of the balcony much harder than usual.

"Just go ahead Alyss." He squeezed her shoulder and nodded encouragingly.

"Will, I'm-"

"There you are! I've been looking for you Ranger Will Treaty!"

Before she could continue, a cheerful and teasing voice rang out, breaking the solemn atmosphere just a second ago. The two turned to see Gilan holding a cup of wine.

"You're looking for me?"

"No. I'm looking for the person from Toscan who is a ranger and coincidentally has the same name as you. Have you seen him anywhere?"

"Oh… That guy, he took the last shrimp roll from the servant there and ran out of the party." He saw Gilan raise one eyebrow and continued. "Gilan, I think you just have to accept the fact that though you inherited the best ranger skills from Halt, you were never made to acquire his inclination towards sarcasm."

That comment earned him a pout from Gilan "Sorry to ruin your moment- actually… I'm not sorry especially after what you just said but Crowley has to talk to you about an important matter. He said no delays"

Will turned to Alyss and squeezed her hand. "We can talk later after this right?"

"Actually, I have to leave the party early. I have an early mission tomorrow morning." She tucked a strand of her behind her ear and sighed to herself. _I guess I'll have to tell him another time._

Will nodded understandingly. "Will I be able to see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow late afternoon probably. I'll check the Redmont libraries then and hopefully I can tell you what I find out then."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow ." He gave Alyss a tight squeeze and followed Gilan to Crowley's office.

Crowley's office was a messy area with paper work filling every area in the room and surprisingly his desk was the one that was empty except for a teapot and a mug.

Crowley was seated on the chair and Halt was to his right. Will saw that his mentor's face was grim but with a flash of worry in his eyes. With that, he already had a guess on what they were going to talk about.

_Halt found out didn't he?_ It took Will all his power not to show any emotion that was trying to burst its way out of him. He kept a stoic face or at least he tried.

Crowley cleared his throat. "Will, Sorry to call you in the middle of the banquet but this seemed like the best time to debrief you . I heard you killed a giant who is very experienced in fighting. I think it would be helpful if you told us more about it ."

Will's stomach dropped as he took in what Crowley just said. He had no time to be relieved. Instead of asking about what happened that afternoon, they ended up asking about another difficult subject. He mentally reminded himself not mention anything that can give a clue to the attack that afternoon or the loss of feeling in his fingers.

"It's a pretty long story." Will started and took a deep breath. ". I wasn't expecting a man like him to have that kind of ability .He was surprisingly very skilled and fast and was able to see through my cloak."

The commandant gestured for him to go on as he stood up and went to the cupboard.

"In the end, he grabbed my cloak and tore it to pieces." Will continued as he watched the commandant grab three cups and small plates from there.

"Do you want some coffee?" Crowley offered as he held the kettle and poured coffee into the cup.

Will nodded "Sure." He turned to Gilan and Halt who were both getting their own cups. He carefully grabbed the cup with his left hand and took a sip.

"I put the plate under for a reason you know. It's not just for decoration. I don't want you spilling any on this new table or the carpet." Crowley explained as he pointed at the plate for him to get it.

Will was about to put the cup down to get the plate when Crowley stopped him. "Don't leave that on the table. The bottom can stain the table too." He said matter-of –factly.

The younger ranger sighed and looked at Halt and Gilan, wondering why his mentor nor the other ranger hadn't told Crowley that his right hand was injured. _Also the fact that Crowley got so finicky with his table so suddenly._

He couldn't argue with the commandant so he, instead decided to just give in to the sudden obsessive- compulsiveness of Crowley and prayed that his right hand would obey him when he tries to get the plate.

He went for the plate with his right hand.

Crowley didn't even notice that his fingers were swollen or if he did, he didn't care. Will frowned at the ranger, wondering why he didn't see anything different at all.

He was already touching the plate or pretending to touch it when Crowley tipped over his own coffee cup spilling coffee all over Will's fingers.

There was a moment of silence. Will saw that all the other people in the room were staring at him and he was the only one unaware of what was really happening. Halt and Gilan were both silent. As usual, the former was wearing an almost unreadable grim face. Gilan, on the other hand , was having a harder time making it unreadable and he ended up showing both surprise and worry.

"I knew it." Halt said and that eventually broke the silence.

Will then understood what really happened. It was all orchestrated. Gilan brought him in the room for just that. Halt did mention his injury to Crowley, the latter just pretended to be unaware.

The ranger commandant was just acting the whole time. He wasn't obsessive at all about his table nor would he have been careless enough to spill the cup if he was.

He looked down at his right hand and saw that it was already covered with red welts along with being swollen.

_And I didn't even notice. _Will thought to himself. He knew that if he did feel the water, he would have pulled away. The water was scalding hot, or it was supposed to be

" Something happened at the cabin… Am I right?" Halt said "It was obvious when I saw how carelessly and hurriedly tied your bandage was."

Will took a deep breath and sighed. " I'm sorry…" He whispered almost to himself.

Halt turned to Gilan. " Bring him to the infirmary to have his burns treated." He then brought his gaze to Will. " You can tell me what happened after."

The young ranger felt someone tap him in the back. It was Gilan who didn't make anymore effort to hide how he felt so he could see how worried the older ranger already was.

"Let's go." He said in such a soft tone that it could not have been anything more than a murmur.

Will wordlessly and reluctantly followed his fellow ranger out of the room.

Halt sighed and turned to Crowley. "He didn't feel it…" It was what the grizzled ranger feared the most when he inferred about Will's attack.

Crowley leaned his chin on his hands. "It's a big thing to lose complete feeling in one body part. Once it's completely lost, one can never get it back nor can they continue with daily tasks the way they were before." He said, not bothering to hide the sadness in his voice anymore.

" So since he's crippled for life…" Halt said and looked at Crowley then deep in thought. "You're not—"

The grizzled ranger was then interrupted by his long time friend. "Halt, fingers are very important for a ranger. How can you shoot a bow or fight with just one hand? How can he even fight properly like that? Sending him out on another mission like this will be just like sending him to the gallows." Crowley raised his voice but at the same time, tried not to make himself sound too panicked as he looked at Halt who was biting his lip.

"He can still fight. He can learn how to live with only his left hand." Halt argued but he wasn't arguing with Crowley, he was arguing with the reality that his former apprentice was now forced to live in.

Crowley didn't even try to give a retort. He just looked at his long time friend then said " You're very smart, Halt. You know yourself how illogical that is."

Halt nodded and knew that in the back of his mind, he also had already known it was impossible, he just couldn't help but at least try once to deny the reality that was unfolding .He looked at Crowley whose eyes were now filled with multiple feelings at the same time.

It was not just pity in Crowley's eyes but also sadness for the ranger who had so much potential that in the end would be cut short by was also deep in thought about the many things the rangers had to take care of. There was the path of the Nemi pirates. There was protecting Will after Halt finds out who the perpetrators are .

_Of course, there is that one more issue added to the list_. Crowley thought

He closed his eyes and sighed "This is the first time I'd be giving a golden oakleaf to someone so young."

**Thanks for reading :D**


	6. Curses

That night, Halt was silent as he picked up his two former apprentices from the infirmary. The grizzled ranger decided to stay with his former apprentice in the cabin since God knows who else could attack Will. Gilan chose to also join the two and stay in the cabin with them for at least a week before getting back to his fief.

"It'll be just like old times! Besides, it's peaceful right now, the Battleschool is doing well… What else do they need?" He said when Halt protested .He attempted to make more conversation as they mounted their horses but decided to stop when he realized that his two comrades were both in bad moods that not even good humor can fix.

They eventually arrived in the clearing after thirty minutes of riding in silence. Gilan was the first to dismount and unsaddle his horse, the two following after.

A few minutes later, they were already settled down in the kitchen and their mentor was making each of them a cup of coffee.

"Will, sometimes your pride can get too high." Halt said as he placed their cups in front of them.

His voice was its usual grim self but at the same time it was serious with no humor in it at all.

Will bit his lip. He was aware that what happened tonight was mostly because of his pride. If he had told Halt about being attacked and he just went back to Malcolm to have it treated, none of it would have happened and most probably, he would be feeling unbearable pain in his hand right now instead of the nothing-ness that was scaring him .No one likes pain but if it were a choice between that or nothing, he'd pick pain by a landslide. At least with pain he knew he would heal and he'd still be able to move it. He was already aware of many cases of people losing feeling in body parts and was told by others before that once you lose complete feeling in one part, you can never get it back.

With this, something else was worrying Will. Crowley and Halt had already found out that Will completely lost the feeling in his fingers .An image of Berrigan, a ranger who had to retire prematurely because of injuries, popped into his head. The ranger could tell that his mentor would be getting into that subject any time soon.

_Of course he will._ Will looked down at his fingers and tried for the upteenth time to move it. _How can someone continue being a ranger with just one hand? Even worse, it's the less reliable hand._

"I just didn't want to get too many people involved…" Will said defensively. "It was those three bullies from when I was an apprentice."

Halt raised one eyebrow. " The one from the Battleschool?"

"The three apprentices you got expelled." Will nodded in affirmation.

"I assume you were able to beat them though, seeing that they weren't there anymore when I arrived." Halt said as he scratched his chin.

Will nodded, his eyes lowered. "Well, there were casualties." He looked pointedly at his fingers.

" That's pretty impressive, Will. You beat them three against one and you were injured the whole fight." Gilan smiled at his fellow ranger, trying to brighten him up a bit.

"Actually… Their eyes were glazed over the whole fight .As if they were hypnotized into doing it then mid fight, when one of them dropped unconscious, the other two came back to their senses, as if they just woke up…" Will continued to narrate the events this time, trying his best not leave anything. That was the most he could give them right now, especially Halt who was still harboring negative feelings about the fact that his apprentice hid important information from him.

"You don't think it's the curse?" Gilan narrowed his eyebrows in concern as he thought .He turned to his mentor who he knew always found a logical solution to everything but to his surprise, Halt nodded.

"Halt… Seriously…" was all Gilan managed to say.

" I think that we have to be open to the fact that curses can exist." Halt started. " I was able to talk to Malcolm and he gave me some information about the Althing family and a curse that their family is known for."

"So, did you find out what the Althing curse is about?" Will asked hopefully.

Halt shook his head. "Malcolm told me that you were going to be in danger since I just left you on your own and I don't think it's any coincidence that someone attacked you this afternoon."

"So that's probably part of the curse." Gilan scratched his chin as he thought.

"What the curse is composed of is beyond me right now but I think that we can conclude that the episode this afternoon is definitely related to it." Halt stood up and gathered the empty cups from the three rangers. "Let's call it a night. I'm going to have to wake up early tomorrow to finish a few errands. You two should be able entertain yourselves tomorrow since you won't be seeing me the whole day…"

"We can come with -" Gilan suggested.

Halt gestured for him to stop as he placed the three cups in the sink. "I think these errands are best done _alone." _ He kept his grim scowl but Gilan could see a flash of sadness in them _and determination _then it was gone.

"Both of you just go to sleep. I'll do the dishes tonight." The grizzled ranger said and motioned for them to just go.

In the end, both of them just gave in to their mentor's order and retired to the bedroom or to the sofa for Gilan.

The silence that followed was what Halt was waiting for. It gave him the perfect opportunity to think.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Will woke up to a voice that was both familiar and friendly. It was Gilan.

"Wake up sleepy head!" He said playfully as he pulled off Will's blankets.

The younger ranger pushed himself off the bed, sighing. "What time is it…"

"Three hours after sunrise!" Gilan replied as he folded Will's blanket and threw it back on the bed. "I didn't think it would be smart to leave you alone here with you cursed and injured and all so I decided that I might as well bring you along with me!"

The older ranger hurried to Will's closet a shirt and threw it the ranger. "Get dressed! I'm already late."

" For what?!" Will asked, exasperated. This was the first time he'd seen Gilan so worried about being late.

" I promised to have breakfast with a someone in Castle Redmont right now."

_Jenny…_ Will smirked when he saw the slight blush in the older ranger's cheeks. _So that's what's getting him so worked up._

"I'd love to join you guys for breakfast but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want a third wheel on your date." Will said teasingly.

Gilan's blush wasn't so faint anymore. He bit his lip. " It's not a date. It's a friendly brunch that just happens to be with a girl. That means you are welcome to join."

"I'll pass." Will said as he took off his nightshirt and put on the one Gilan threw at him just a minute ago. _It took him a minute to take off his shirt. _

That's when he realized how important fingers actually are. He was pretty sure it wouldn't have taken him that long just a few days ago.

Gilan noticed the younger ranger struggle as he put on the shirt. If he offered to help him, the latter would definitely protest. _Everyday tasks do become harder don't they? _ He thought as he smiled with sympathy at Will.

"What now? You know that I can't leave you here." Gilan raised his eyebrow at Will.

"And I'm not going to ask you to. I'm going with you to castle Redmont." Will smoothened the wrinkles in his shirt and grabbed his rucksack.

"So you're eating with us." Gilan said, a tiny hint of disappointment in his voice.

_That is definitely a date. _Will narrowed his eyes at Gilan. " I just said I'm coming with you to Castle Redmont. I didn't say anything about crashing your date.

"It's not-" The older ranger, who was turning twenty shades of red and pink in the span of a few seconds, stopped himself. " Then what do you plan on doing there?"

"I'm going to do a bit of research in the library."

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

"I guess we're splitting up from here." Gilan said as they reached the entrance door of the castle. Their horses were already in the stable, being cared for by the servants. " If you need me, I'll be in the dining hall near the kitchen."

"Yeah. I'll call you if I need you _or Jenny_…" Will added than he gave Gilan a smirk and turned his back at the older ranger, ignoring his denials and protests.

Redmont castle had one of the best libraries in all of Araluen, comparable only to Castle Araluen's in size and completeness. He recalled what Alyss' mentioned about finding books there about the Althing's. He wouldn't be surprised. Couriers spend a lot of time on the library. He, might as well, start looking on his own until Alyss' comes back from the mission.

Another good thing about that library was that even if it was big and held many books, it was still very organized. Most of the credit came from the servants who put back the books whenever a visitor forgets to put it back and the librarian who makes sure that every book is in its proper shelf.

As soon as Will enters, he sees a thin wiry man with glasses behind a desk and a much younger man writing in a desk behind him.

_Most probably his apprentice._ Will's thoughts flew to his own master, wondering what he was doing right now and why he left so early that morning. He shook his head. _That is none of his business. Halt will tell him at his own time._

The wiry man behind the desk looked up at the ranger. "May I help you?" He asked, or more specifically, croaked.

"Do you have any books on magic? Curses?" Will asked, feeling a little self-conscious at that moment. The librarian would definitely judge him for looking for a book like that. At that moment, he wished he were Alyss or George, they probably didn't need help from a librarian anymore when going around the Redmont library.

The librarian raised an eyebrow at Will. "Are you also looking for books about the Althing curse?"

" Yes! Yes! I am! How did you know?!" Will asked, surprised.

"You're the third person today that mentioned a book about curses and the Althing family…" The wiry man replied, looking exasperated.

_Or is that his everyday face..._Will thought to himself.

"There were two others?" Will frowned, thinking of all the people who would be looking for the same thing in his head.

The librarian nodded in reply. "Why is it getting so popular today? There was one who went here early morning and asked about the Althings. It was a grizzled old man in mottled cloak."

"Halt…" Will muttered to himself. "Is he still here?"

The wiry man shook his head. "He left after looking through this one book, saying that he had to finish some more errands today."

"This one book…You have a book about the Althings?" Will asked excitedly.

"We only have one though. The only one in the whole of Araluen, probably the whole world. It was handwritten and hand drawn by this old man five years ago who claimed to have visited the kingdom and was cursed. He donated the book to this library." The librarian made a gesture with his hands "for all future victims he said."

Will felt his heart thumping and said a silent prayer to the man who made the book. _He was so close to finding out more_. " What happened to the man? Is he still alive?" Will asked, both anxious and scared to know the answer.

The librarian lowered his eyes and frowned. " His body was found bloated beside a lake in Whitby fief near the border of claimed it was murder. Others said it was suicide. We'll never know though. Unless you want to read the book, I don't know with you but reading a book handwritten by a crazy dead man, who was probably murdered would be the last thing I'd do right now."

Will's stomach dropped and he felt the hair in his arms rise. He was scared. He scolded himself when he recognized that feeling.. _This is the only way to find out __m__ore about the curse! Read it!_

"Wh-Where's the book?" Will nervously asked.

"You're the third person I warned today. What's wrong with you people, trying to get yourself killed these days…" The last sentence was muttered. He looked up from his desk again. "The woman who came a few minutes before you got it. She's probably reading it in front of the one of the desks behind these shelves" He gestured at the shelves to his left.

_Alyss… But that couldn't be… _Will nodded in thanks and hurried past the shelves to find the young courier reading the book in front of a desk.

"Alyss…" Will said loud enough for the courier to hear.

She looked up surprised. " Will…" She said her eyes wide.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you say you had a mission this morning?"

Alyss closed the book she was reading. The book had white cover that was already turning gray with dirt and dust. " Lady Pauline let me stay as soon as I explained to her about your curse. Seems Halt was able to tell her about it last night and about…" The courier frowned as she was about to say the next line then she remembered that her mentor said that Will didn't know yet and it was best that Halt would be the one to break it to him. She stopped herself from showing any sadness and continued with a new choice of words. "How dangerous it could be if we don't know what to expect so she allowed me to stay in the library and research."

Fortunately, Will didn't notice the slight hesitation in her voice. He pointed at the book. " What did you find out so far?"

"Their curse is called a possession and it is said that that curse can be placed by anyone of their bloodline."

" How many people can do it right now?" Will asked as he sat on the chair beside Alyss.

"Right now there are four who can do it. There is the father and three sons. Their mother died at childbirth. They have one more daughter but they say she can't use magic." She explained." Wait, I know the author made a charcoal drawing of the family around…" She searched the pages of the book until she found a paper inserted in one of the pages. " Here." She pulled out the drawing and gave it at Will.

Will almost choked when he saw the picture. Just like Alyss said, there wasn't a mother, only a father, holding on to a toddler who was a girl, the one who had no magic. There were the three sons. There was one that stood out, though. To anyone else, he would also stand out with his gigantic body and ugly face compared to his two brothers. To Will, he stood out for another reason.

" What's wrong Will?" Alyss asked as she held on to the trembling hand of Will.

" That man…" Will said, his voice trembling " That's the giant I told you about last night. The giant I killed… There's no denying it. That's him…"


	7. No Sleep

**_Enjoy! Thank you for the reviews! _**

_I knew I should've drank coffee first_

Halt had been awake since an hour before dawn and the annoying part was that he wasn't able to drink any coffee from the risk of waking up the other two rangers with the aroma if he did decide to brew some. He was also incredibly cranky. Sleeping late, having to wake up early and not being able to drink coffee do that people.

The only reason he was awake that early was so he could finish his "errands" as soon as possible and he knew that everything he planned on doing that day were all for the sake of his former apprentice, Will who was on the verge of being retired from the corps and was a victim of a supposedly dangerous and powerful curse.

The sun was only starting to rise when he arrived in Redmont castle, still groggy and grumpy. Just as he expected, there were already servants around who decided to start on the cleaning, cooking and many more chores before the sun comes out, making the weather hotter and at the same time, making work less tolerable.

A young boy who was probably an apprentice called out to the ranger. He looked surprised at Halt's arrival so early but knowing the mysterious reputation of rangers and seeing that the ranger wasn't in the mood for small talk, decided not to comment on it.

"May I take care of your horse?" He asked meekly

Halt dismounted Abelard and handed the reins to the young boy. He whispered soothingly to his horse in Gallic to go ahead with the young boy then he turned to the kid, nodding in thanks. If this happened a few years ago, he wouldn't have allowed anyone to take care of Abelard in the stables but ever since he married Lady Pauline and started to live in Redmont, he had become much more comfortable with leaving Abelard in the castle stables and even the horse grew accustomed to being taken care of by strangers.

With one small problem taken care of, Halt moved on to his first destination that day, the library. Before finding a way to help Will with the curse, he had to understand it.

He entered the library to see the wiry librarian already awake, reading a book behind the desk. He looked up surprised to hear the door open then close. Before he knew it, a middle aged man in a mottled cloak was standing in front of him.

"May—May I help you?" He stuttered, gathering himself. He was still taken aback by how that grizzled man just popped up in front of him like a ghost and so early in the morning. Heck, he could've been a ghost in front of him if he hadn't started talking.

"Do you have any books on curses?"

The man nervously fixed his glasses. " 'Curses' is a wide topic. It'd help if you were a little more specific."

"Have you heard of the Althings?" Halt started, remembering the name he saw in the treaty back at the pirate's camp and the fears Will confided to him about when it came to that name.

The librarian looked up, surprised and frightened at the name the grizzled ranger just mentioned.

"Althings... Are you sure that's what you're looking for?" The librarian asked.

Halt raised his eyebrows at the librarian. "Yes I am."

The librarian frowned deep in thought. "Do you even know what you're researching?"

Halt forced a polite nod "Of course I do." His was patience running out.

"It's a pretty scary topic…Especially since there's concrete evidence that that curse is _real_…"The wiry man emphasized the last word, hoping the man in front of him got the message. _Don't even think about the Althings._

The ranger's eyebrows twitched in frustration. If he had coffee or at least a good night's sleep, it wouldn't have come to this. With the circumstance like this, though, and with him in a really bad mood, he lost all his control too easily.

"Listen! I woke up at exactly an hour before dawn so I can come here and have enough time to read at least briefly about this stupid curse. Do you see how early it is?" Halt snapped as he pulled the librarian by his shirt to the window.

The librarian nodded as he saw the weak light coming from the sunrise.

"Do I look like I'm in a good mood right now?" Halt asked with the same tone, pointing at his scarier than grim face at that moment.

The librarian shook his head.

Halt forced the surprised and frightened man back to his seat.

"Now just answer my question. Do you have any books on the Althings?" Halt asked slowly as if the old and wise looking librarian in front of him was nothing but a young kid from the ward still learning how to read and write.

"Yes we do." He replied quickly, catching his breath.

"Then where is it? I don't have all day you know. Heck, I don't think I even have an hour to read through it."

"But this book has a history that's not too pretty…"The librarian started.

"And?" Halt asked.

"It's best if you don't get too involved with that book…"

"Oh I got involved a long time ago." Halt said impatiently. "Now where's the book?"

The librarian sighed.

"This book was written by a crazy man who's now dead, most probably killed. You can end up that way too if you get too involved."

The ranger showed no signs of hesitation. "Where's the book?" He asked again. He fiddled with the saxe knife in his scabbard, suppressing the urge to throw the man off the building or slash him in the throat. A part of him was uncertain then because of the librarian's warning but a larger part of him was thinking that it would be much more dangerous to be ignorant to the Althing family and their curse when he, himself, was heavily involved with them already.

"Alright." The librarian said. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He stood up and made his way down a few shelves, the ranger following behind him.

The librarian fingered the many bindings in the shelves until he reached a white book that was already turning a dirty shade.

"Here." He placed the book on the hands of the ranger. "Just give it back to me when you're done. Now excuse me." He said, this time with the same exasperation as Halt a while ago with a touch of fear and headed back to his desk.

Halt's heart was beating wildly when he saw the book in front of him. This would definitely give him answers to the many questions that racked his brain ever since Will mentioned the curse and it was right in front of him. He opened the book scanning the first few pages.

The first few pages were just an introduction. _The mother died after the birth of the youngest… They have three sons… The father was the king of Issland…_

"Etcetera etcetera etcetera" Halt muttered to himself as he skipped the first few pages. He stopped turning pages though when he saw a glimpse of a charcoal drawing of the family. They all had raven black hair and silver eyes but they were all of different ages so it wasn't hard to tell them apart.

There was the father with a long and scraggly beard holding on to a young toddler who was most probably the daughter. There were two brothers sitting side to side, one who was around eight another who looked much closer to adolescent age.

Halt wasn't too surprised to see that on the farthest right corner of the picture was the giant who guarded the base of the Nemi pirates. Just as he suspected, the giant wasn't bumbling and ordinary.

There were many questions that were started to bother him when it

He moved on to the next few pages that were about the special powers of the said family, except for the young daughter who wasn't born with anything special. It mentioned precognition, telepathy and many things like that but what caught Halt's attention was the one thing that was common among the three brothers and the father. It was an ability called possession.

_It is a power that magnifies one's feelings positive or negative, influencing that one person to do the wishes of the one who possessed them_

_The stronger the feeling and the nearer the target,__the less effort it takes to possess the person._

That explained why it was Alda, Byrn and Jerome who attacked Will yesterday afternoon. They hated Will with passion thus they would've been the easiest for the family to influence from so Far North.

_It is a power that is used sparingly since it requires the life force of the user thus shortening their life span with every dose._

_Cure…Cure…Cure…_Halt thought to himself as he scanned pages his hand stopped when he saw a glimpse of the word negated.

_A possession can only be negated once the dose on the victim is finished or the said victim overcomes the spell._

_Note: It is the most common tool for revenge used by the Althings and with the most obvious signs, it is sometimes called the Althing curse even if it's technically not a curse on the victim but more on the target._

_One cannot perform the spell when they're __o__n the brink of death from other causes that do not relate to the overuse of a possession._

So it wasn't the giant who placed the curse on Will. That left him three other people to pick from.

Halt slammed the book shut. He learned a lot from the book but it would be much harder to negate than he expected at first.

The ranger thought then that Will would always be in danger, with the many enemies he has, unless someone actually goes to Issland right now and bargains with whoever did the curse to spare the ranger.

Halt knew he, himself, was willing to do it.

Halt returned the book to the librarian who was hunched on the desk with paperwork surrounding him and left.

It was already a little passed seven when Halt arrived at his next destination. It was also in Castle Redmont but due to the size of the castle and the fact that Halt who was still sleepy and lacked coffee in his system, had to walk it, he ended up talking almost thirty minutes to get there.

He entered the infirmary, hoping he was early enough that Malcolm didn't have much patients yet and late enough that the healer was already there.

To his luck, Malcolm was already there, alone organizing the clinic, probably after the long and busy day he had yesterday.

"I heard about what happened last night…" The healer started when he saw the ranger enter the room. He looked to the ranger and nodded, acknowledging his presence before going back to the medicine cabinet he was rearranging.

Halt lowered his eyes. "What do you think?" He was talking to one of the best healers in Araluen at that moment and he hoped against hope at least _he _knew something that could help the young ranger.

"I was already gone for the night when Will came to have his burns treated. The assistant who bandaged him up was the one who told me about the 'underlying injuries'." The healer continued.

"Well, Are those 'underlying injuries' treatable? Curable?" Halt asked. His patience was running out.

To his horror, Malcolm shook his head. "With our medical science right now, it's impossible."

"Therapy? Surgery? Herbs? Anything?" Halt continued desperately. "Will wouldn't be able to continue being a ranger like this. Even Crowley already optioned retirement for him!" Halt argued as if that alone could prove what Malcolm just said untrue.

"If there was a cure, there wouldn't be too many cripples and outcasts in this world, would there?"

With that, Halt lowered his head. "Anything Malcolm…if there's any way to fix this, to cure him. I'll find it. The life he loves can't just end like that."

Malcolm heard the rangers voice crack and he realized that the Halt was biting back tears.

"I only said that with medical science it's impossible." Malcolm said.

Halt looked up to face the healer who was then smiling. "So you're saying that it's possible with faith healers and witch doctors?" Even just those words left a bad taste in his mouth. Usually, the ones he ever saw were all quack doctors with no education, hoping to earn a living by lies and trickery.

Malcolm shook his head. "Witch doctors and Faith healers are almost all flukes. My friend, and herbalist in Norgate fief wasn't any of them. She looked like one, she acted like one but her healing skills were authentic."

Halt raised his eyebrows. "There was another healer like you in Norgate?" He knew that if there was a witch healer this powerful, it would have made a bit more noise in the area.

Malcolm sighed. "It's time someone else knew that I had someone else working with me when I was still a well known healer in Norgate."

Halt raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The healer continued. "Even with all her power, she chose to work behind me, disguised as my assistant in fear that someone might recognize her. I never bothered to ask why because it didn't really matter to me as long as she continued what she did. She was the best herbalist I had ever met and she ended up making the medicines that I used to cure the people in the village back then and she taught me everything I knew -the best roots for a headache, the best leaves for a fever, how much you need to make the best concoction… Everything…"

"What happened to her?" Halt asked, knowing what he was going to say next wasn't good when he saw the healer's face darken.

"It was the incident that caused me to flee to Grimsdell woods. The woman confessed to me that the medicine she gave our last patient was still in the experimental stage."

"She experimented on the child…" Halt said softly.

Malcolm nodded. "She knew that the child's fever was beyond raging. It was almost incurable. At that time, she was also starting to experiment on different herbs to make a medicine that can cure anything so she decided to try an unfinished one on the child, killing him in the process. That left us fleeing with a very bad reputation."

"Where is she now?" Halt asked.

"She told me that she would cross the ocean to the far west and start a different life there. She couldn't take the sufferings this country was giving her anymore , mentioning something that happened during the first civil war and this incident."

"And you helped her escape, even when she destroyed your reputation?"

Malcolm gave a wry smile. "She was the woman who worked to give me the best reputation, I still owed her for that. I fled with her to Picta and there I was able to find her a ship that was making a rare voyage west. Before she left, she told me she was going to continue research on the medicine there."

"And that medicine could help Will!" Halt's eyes brightened with hope.

Malcolm nodded. "Well, only if she perfected it."

"A breakthrough is still a breakthrough no matter how small." Halt replied. "How can we get there?"

"There are only a few ships that can take you to the Western countries but they are pretty spread out. These days, they are pretty rare in Picta. You may find a lot of people bound for there from Celtica so I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot more ships going there from the South."

Halt nodded thoughtfully. "That information will definitely come to good use." He paused for a second. "One more thing though… I read about the Althing curse."

"I thought you would've forgotten about it already." Malcolm joked lightly. "What did you find out?"

Halt relayed what he read to Malcolm and after all that, Malcolm just gave an apologetic smile.

"What you know now is all I knew from the curse. If you want more, you'd have to go to Issland yourself or hopefully the ones in Picta have a lot more to share than what I got."

The ranger stood up. "Alright. I'll try to work with just that information."

He nodded in thanks to Malcolm and bounded of for the door. It was there when he saw the crowd of injured people coming in. He quietly slipped off against the wave of people, focusing on his thoughts as he walked through the crowd.

To help Will, he'd have to go to Issland to speak, or mostly probably bargain with whoever cursed Will, whether it was the king or the prince. At the same time, He'd have to find a ship from, most probably, Celtica to go west and find a cure. How was he going to do that in the shortest possible time?

_It's time to make another visit…_

**_Please tell me what you think!_**

**I wrote this years ago so the writing is still pretty immature :p**


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